Degrade
by kellegirl
Summary: All the project SOLDIERs fell. Angeal, Genesis, Sephiroth, none of them remain. Cloud was altered just like them, it was only a matter of time. Cloud/Reno dark themes. M for future chapters


_Me: I've been doing a lot of comedy lately, something that quite honestly has been confusing the living hell out of me. I'm not a naturally funny person after all. I should just go work on my series, but I really don't feel like it. It's Halloween at the moment-_

_Cautai: Bitch won't give me candy._

_Me: No, I will not. I don't want to deal with the rabid plot bunnies that spawns. But I was saying, it's Halloween today as I begin to write this and I felt it was appropriate. I've been toying with the concept for a while in my head, so I want to do a quick one shot/possible first chapter to be revisited on a later date._

_Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, just the idea._

_Warning: Dark themes, OOC.  
_

XxXxXxXxXx

The blond stared up at the stars blankly, a crooked smile creeping it's way onto his lips. "Hello," Cloud whispered to the night.

"Who are you talking to?" a voice asked.

Sapphire orbs swiveled to look at the redhead leaning against the door frame. He was tall and lanky, pale skin glowing in the moonlight, crimson hair flowing like blood over his shoulders, crescent tattoos adorning his cheeks, and green eyes glowing mischievously. _I could kill him._ Cloud mused as his smile grew wider, _Cut him up like the lowly creature he is. I bet his blood tastes wonderful._ "Nothing," the words made their way out unbidden, "Just thinking."

"Really," Reno frowned as he studied the blond. Cloud's eyes were brighter than normal, the mako burning brighter than normal and casting an eerie glow over his cheekbones. It made the redhead realize Cloud had lost weight, his cheeks were sunken, skin paler than normal, gravity defying spikes drooping slightly, and oddly enough he seemed looser. His muscles didn't hold that tension that seemed to plague the blond. He was leaning back ever so slightly, arms hanging limply by his side as that not quite right smile played over his face. "Because I rarely say 'hello' when I'm thinking."

"Hmm," Cloud hummed as he turned his gaze back to the sky, "It's pretty isn't it?"

"What?" Reno frowned and glanced up quickly, "Yeah, it's nice. Cloud...what are you doing out here?"

"What's with all the questions Red?" the blond chuckled and the hair on the back of Reno's neck stood up. He knew that laugh, he had heard it before. Sephiroth used to chuckle like that.

"Cloud...baby...come back to bed," he said cautiously.

"Why would I do that?" sapphire eyes hardened, "So you can give me that little drug you keep in the closet? Ooooh, did I figure out your plan?" The blond smirked widely as he turned to Reno.

"Cloud, calm down," the redhead held his hands up submissively, "No need to-ack!"

"No need to what?" Cloud demanded as he gripped the redhead's throat, "To kill you? To...to...uh..." The blonde's hand fell away, allowing Reno to stumble back and grasp his bruised throat protectively. The hero looked confused, his face screwed up as his eyes flitted around as if trying to understand where he was. Finally they focused on the redhead and horror dawned on his features. "Baby...did...did I? Oh Gaia no," Cloud stammered as he brought his hands to his mouth.

"Cloud," Reno said carefully, "I want you to go into the bedroom and lie down on the bed. I'm going to get the medicine okay."

Nodding submissively, the blond scooted past the Turk, silently refusing to meet his eyes. Sighing heavily Reno quickly moved to the closet, finding a small lock box with ease. Taking a key from the chain that hung around his neck, he unlocked the box and pulled out a small vial and a syringe. Filling the syringe to a pre-marked amount, the redhead turned around to find Cloud sitting on the bed, a quizzical look on his face.

"Do I know you?" he asked curiously.

"Yeah baby," Reno smiled sweetly, "I'm Reno, you know, your boyfriend. I was going to look at your hand."

"My hand?" blond spikes swayed slightly as Cloud tilted his head.

"You said it hurt, just let me see it and I'll leave you alone, okay?"

"I guess," the blond frowned but presented his hand, stretching out his arm in the process.

Reno took the hand casually, stretching the blonde's arm out as if he were about to examine the offered hand. When the arm was taught, the veins clearly visible, the redhead plunged the syringe into Cloud's skin, pushing the plunger to inject the liquid. The blond recoiled, pushing the Turk away as if burned. Before he could do anything to retaliate his features went slack, his muscles relaxed, and he slumped back into the bed bonelessly. A lazy smile swept across his face before his eyes drifted shut.

"I'm sorry Chocobo," Reno sighed. Getting up from where he had fallen on the floor, the Turk made his way into the bathroom, disposing of the syringe with a heavy sigh. Walking back into the bedroom, Reno gazed down at the prone figure sadly. "What happened to you?" the redhead breathed. Shaking his head, Reno grabbed the phone and dialed a number quickly.

"Hello?" a sleepy voice asked after several rings.

"Tifa," Reno said heavily, "He lost touch again. That's the tenth time this week Tifa, he's getting worse."

"Reno," the woman said sharply, "Don't say that, he can't be, he's being treated."

"He tried to choke me tonight," the redhead murmured, "He's degrading too fast for the medication to work."

"Red...I don't know what to say. What do you want me to do about it?"

"I need your permission to hospitalize him," the Turk said, "If I don't get your consent the others will go after me. They'll blame me for not taking care of him."

"...do you really think it's necessary?"

"Yeah, he's getting too violent to-" the redhead was interrupted by a loud crash. Spinning around, Reno found Cloud no longer in bed, but standing on the balcony outside their bedroom. "How the fuck did he wake up?!" Reno yelled, "That was enough of a dose to drop a behemoth!"

The blond turned slightly towards the sound, a feral grin on his face. "I can hear her," he said happily, "I can hear mother."

Reno stood speechless, how was he supposed to react to that? Mother. He heard Mother. The Turk made no move as Cloud turned away from him. The blond lazily stretched his arms out and Reno jumped slightly when a wing shot out from his shoulder. It was a brilliant, crimson red. _Like my hair_, Reno thought absently. With a powerful thrust, the blond took flight, quickly disappearing into the night.

X_x_X_x

"There were three original project SOLDIERs," the scientist drawled as he looked at the collected group, "Angeal, Genesis, and Sephiroth. All three of these degraded in various ways. You all know of Sephiroth's degradation of course. He succumbed to the influence of Jenova, throwing off his humanity and going on a murderous rampage which was ended by Mr. Cloud Strife. Angeal degraded in a different way, creating clones in the forms of monsters and spreading his DNA in that fashion. He was killed by Zack Fair. Genesis degraded by a process of rapid aging and insanity, also creating clone monsters. The specifics of his death are not completely known but it is suspected that Mr. Fair was the one to kill him as well."

"What does this have to do with Spiky?" a large black man asked gruffly.

"Well Mr. Barret," the scientist snapped, "If you hadn't interrupted me I was just getting to that. Mr. Strife was taken by Professor Hojo as you all know. While in his...care...Mr. Strife was subjected to the same treatments as Sephiroth. By definition he is a project SOLDIER. As such it really isn't a surprise that he too is degrading. In fact Mr. Strife was expecting it. He made arrangements in advance for when it happened. For the past two years he has been coming to the labs in an attempt to postpone the degrading process. In preparation for the event of degradation we implanted a chip into his skull. If he becomes too erratic it will activate and kill him. The chip is still active though, so he isn't completely lost yet."

"What does that mean?" Reno asked desperately.

"If you can find him and bring him here we might be able to reverse the degrading process," the scientist shrugged slightly, "Of course he could die before you find him. We were going to put in a tracking device next week, so we don't know where he is right now."

X_x_X_x

Cloud opened his eyes, blinking a few times before smiling at the canopy of trees above him. Rolling over the blond stared at the pond next to him for a moment before pushing himself up to a sitting position. "Aerith?" he asked the ancient petrified trees.

"_I'm here,_" a voice said airily.

XxXxXxXxXx

_Me: Short and to the point. I think I will continue this eventually, I have an idea for a long ass story that goes with it. I have too much on my plate though. I really need to finish Therapy, work on Stolen, do a ton of one shots I promised, To Be hasn't been updated in ages, Akuroku in Wonderland needs resurrecting...I just have too much to officially start a new story. So this will remain open, to be worked on at some other time when I don't have so much to do._


End file.
